David Pryce Invertebrate Surveys Prosperous Bay Plain Invertebrate Survey 2018-19 David Pryce May 2019 CONTENTS Contents ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 List of figures .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 List of tables ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 3 Survey design considerations ................................................................................................................................. 5 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 A – Main survey .................................................................................................................................................. 7 B – Temporal survey ......................................................................................................................................... 10 C – Gecko survey .............................................................................................................................................. 11 D – Spider eye-shine survey ............................................................................................................................. 11 E – Vegetation survey ....................................................................................................................................... 12 F – Site numbering ........................................................................................................................................... 12 Results .................................................................................................................................................................. 12 A – Main survey ................................................................................................................................................ 12 B – Temporal survey and Malaise trap ............................................................................................................. 16 C – Gecko survey .............................................................................................................................................. 17 D – Spider eye-shine surveys ............................................................................................................................ 18 E – Vegetation survey ....................................................................................................................................... 20 F – Malaise trap ................................................................................................................................................ 21 G – General species information ...................................................................................................................... 22 Analysis of sampling effectiveness ....................................................................................................................... 27 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................ 30 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................................... 32 Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................................ 33 References ............................................................................................................................................................ 34 Appendix A – History of study .............................................................................................................................. 35 Appendix B – Previous surveys. ............................................................................................................................ 37 Appendix C – Gecko survey results ....................................................................................................................... 41 Appendix D – Pitfall trap locations ....................................................................................................................... 43 Appendix E – Main survey results ......................................................................................................................... 45 Appendix F – Temporal survey results .................................................................................................................. 47 Appendix G – Malaise trap results ........................................................................................................................ 63 Appendix H – Vegetation survey results ............................................................................................................... 65 Appendix I – Individual species information ......................................................................................................... 67 1 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Approximate extent of the 'Eastern Arid Area' as defined by the Ashmoles' survey sites (Ashmole & Ashmole, 2004a). ............................................................................................................ 3 FIGURE 2: The extent of the area surveyed during this project, as defined in the text above, and its relation to the Airport, runway and Airport access road. ................................................................... 4 FIGURE 3: Average monthly rainfall (upper graph) and temperature (lower graph) data from the MO station at Bottom Woods, plotted against the 2001-2019 average. .................................................. 6 FIGURE 4: Habitat map for the survey area. ........................................................................................................ 8 FIGURE 5: A typical pitfall trap installation. ......................................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 6: The Malaise trap used at Lower Bone Gully. ...................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 7: Spider-eye shine from lycosid spiders at Prosperous Bay Plain, 24th February 2019. ..................... 11 FIGURE 8: Comparison of the number of species recovered from each site during the main survey, as compared to those recovered in 2003. ............................................................................................. 13 FIGURE 9: Comparison of all species found during the 2003 survey, the 2018 survey and both surveys for all species and endemic species. ................................................................................................. 14 FIGURE 10: Calculated scores for endemic taxa at each site from the 2003 and 2018 surveys. ......................... 16 FIGURE 11: The number of species recovered during the temporal surveys (excluding 'random' sites). ........... 17 FIGURE 12: Comparative photographs of spider eye-shine during a survey in 2011, with one taken during the current survey. ................................................................................................................ 18 FIGURE 13: Wolf spiders from the spider eye-shine survey. ............................................................................... 19 FIGURE 14: Some examples of invertebrates showing seasonal changes in abundance from the Malaise trap. ................................................................................................................................................... 21 FIGURE 15: Photograph of mature Bonapruncinia sanctaehelenae male (left) and female (right); scale in mm. ................................................................................................................................................... 23 FIGURE 16: Drawing of Bonapruncinia sanctaehelenae, reproduced from Basilewsky, 1977. ........................... 23 FIGURE 17: Probable new species of Opogona from the Stone Hill BugVac sample. .......................................... 25 Figure 18: Two wasps from the survey. ............................................................................................................. 26 FIGURE 19: Synthetic species accumulation curves produced using EstimateS software for the main survey. ............................................................................................................................................... 28 FIGURE 20: Synthetic species accumulation curves produced using EstimateS software for the Malaise traps from this survey and DPLUS040. .............................................................................................. 29 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: Summary of sampling methodologies used by the various surveys undertaken in the area. ............ 5 TABLE 2: Site numbers, names and abbreviations surveyed in 2003 and used in this report. .........................